Documents reveal chaotic military sex-abuse record

[unhappycamper]

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20140209_ap_9f7addc2868545c7aa252b34aac72afb.html

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In this photo taken on Nov. 24, 2011, and released by the U.S. Army, Army Capt. Joseph M. Lapoint, second from right, executive officer for Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, is congratulated for his Combat Infantryman Badge awarded by Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair, left, Deputy Commanding General, 82nd Airborne Division, at Forward Operating Base Lagman, in Zabul province, Afghanistan. Sinclair, who served five combat tours, is headed to trial following a spate of highly publicized military sex scandals involving high-ranking officers that has triggered a review of ethics training across the service branches.

Documents reveal chaotic military sex-abuse record
RICHARD LARDNER, The Associated Press
Posted: Sunday, February 9, 2014, 2:50 PM

TOKYO (AP) - At U.S. military bases in Japan, most service members found culpable in sex crimes in recent years did not go to prison, according to internal Department of Defense documents. Instead, in a review of hundreds of cases filed in America's largest overseas military installation, offenders were fined, demoted, restricted to their bases or removed from the military.

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-The Marines were far more likely than other branches to send offenders to prison, with 53 prison sentences out of 270 cases. By contrast, of the Navy's 203 cases, more than 70 were court-martialed or punished in some way. Only 15 were sentenced to time behind bars.

-The Air Force was the most lenient. Of 124 sex crimes, the only punishment for 21 offenders was a letter of reprimand.

-Victims increasingly declined to cooperate with investigators or recanted, a sign they may have been losing confidence in the system. In 2006, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which handles the Navy and Marine Corps, reported 13 such cases; in 2012, it was 28.